Here's a picture of me the day before the race. We decided to take the tour & get a bird's eye view of the swim course from the ferry.
Guess this is what you would see every day if you were incarcerated. But if I had to look at this every day, I would have definitely made a break for it! It wasn't that far!
Another view. Come on, you could definitely swim across!
But wait, this does seem to be a major shipping channel & that is a pretty big freighter.
But I knew that even though there were sea lions, sharks & jellyfish in the water, people have been swimming this race for 31 years. That's a long time. & last week I read about a 10 year old boy that made the swim. 10! I'm wasn't going to be outdone by a 10 year old.
The first full day we were in San Francisco, I got up at 5:00 (8:00 NY time) & went out for a run. It was a good 4.5 mile run & I was really glad that I did it because during my run I discovered the transition area for the race. It wasn't very far from our hotel & it made me a bit more at ease to actually see the San Francisco Bay & realize that I knew I could swim across it without any problems. I went down to the water & stuck my hand in & thought, it's not that cold! Swimming in the Navesink must have paid off because I was no longer afraid of being swept out to sea.
The morning of the race I gathered up most of my stuff & made the ride over to the start. It was a bit confusing, as I had missed the pre-race meeting the day before due to the terrible downpours. I was just going to have to make the best of it. Apparently, this was a mistake.
My goal was to finish the race, but in the back of my head I really wanted to finish in less than 4 hours. I think I should have stuck with my one & only goal of finishing, but we'll get to that later. As I get ready to get on the boat, Mike snapped a quick picture of me in the transition area.
For some reason I brought 2 pairs of sneakers with me. Normally I don't do this, but it was the best thing I have ever done. If I hadn't, I would have never finished the race. As I got ready to get on the bus to get to the boat, I was standing with my wetsuit, goggles & my race cap in one hand. In the other, was my transition bag, that was supposed to be ready for me at the end of the swim. Due to bad info from someone collecting bags, I was told it would be ok to take it with me on the bus. This was a huge mistake, which I wouldn't figure out until I got out of the water.
Boarding the bus, I started to really get nervous. It was about a 10 minute ride to the pier & then 2,200 people were loaded on to the boat. Everything after that seemed like a big blur. I was sent downstairs (in the under 40 group) to start the race. People wearing wetsuits & funny colored bathing caps were everywhere, all getting ready to start. As we approached Alcatraz, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Not only did I look miserable, I looked really scared. & no matter how much I tried to smile, I just couldn't. But then I met a girl from Iowa that told me it would be a snap & something inside just clicked. Suddenly there was an announcement, 1 minute to the start. Uh oh. Here we go.
My big fear is that I wouldn't be able to jump off the boat. It wasn't a little jump either. Most of the pros dove in, show offs, but as the rest of the swimmers went in, they just basically jumped in. As I got closer to the door, I knew it was time to get in the water. Believe it or not.....jumping in was so easy. It's just like what my mother always used to say - if all your friends jumped off a bridge would you? Yes, absolutely mom! & that was it, I had plunged into the San Francisco bay along with over 2,000 escapees.
Read all about the swim, with more pics tomorrow!!!!!
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